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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Summer Eats

Out for this post? Blogging about writing.
In for this post? Blogging about food.

My husband and I recently ran away. Okay, so we ran away to a business
conference, but still. Someone else cleaned my room and made my bed and gave me
fresh towels. And someone else cooked my meals.

To be honest, it really woke up my taste buds. I think I'd fallen into a rut
of, "Oh, look, there's a freezer burned chimichanga, and a couple turkey hot
dogs, and some three day old mac and cheese - looks like I won't have to cook!
It's leftover night, everyone!" - Again.

So, since coming back, I've been at least somewhat trying to recapture a smidgen of the spirit of cooking. (My family has been overwhelmingly grateful). I thought today I'd share a few of the summer recipes that have gotten the thumbs up. Oh, and in case you don't notice, allrecipes.com is my friend.

Summer Salads

Asian Chicken Salad - Okay, so this is really just Asian Salad. When we were trying to come up with a mock Applebees Asian Chicken Salad, this was the only recipe with lots of good reviews. It doesn't really taste like Applebees, but my family rates it delicious on its own merits. To add the 'chicken' to the Asian Salad, we use whatever is on hand, leftover grilled chicken (great), canned chicken (a little soggy), or even cut up chicken nuggets (surprisingly alright). Oh, and sometimes we use less oil and more soy sauce, otherwise it can be a little greasy.

Mandarin Chicken Pasta Salad - A new favorite along the lines of the one above, but a little more refined. I added more sugar than it calls for because - sugar addict, yeah.

Microwave Carmel Popcorn - Everything you're supposed to avoid - sugar, corn syrup and margarine! This is a great treat any time of year. It's made in a brown paper bag, of all things, so clean up is a snap. Make sure you use margarine, even if you're a butter purist, because butter just won't work as well.

Yum! Every summer we make this chicken cashew salad (we can't afford it more often than that. It's a bit pricey.)http://www.creationsbykara.com/2008/10/cashew-chicken-salad.htmlWe always have leftovers, so we keep the cashews separate, because they are better fresh. We sprinkle them onto our salad right when we eat them. (Of course, we also use a few more cashews than we otherwise would, so have some extra). This recipe was created by my best friend from high school and college, and I believe she won an award with it from Taste of Home or something awesome like that.